Sharp County record., 1887-01-13
MEASURING TIME.
Now Year Sermon Dy Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, y. D.
Eb, Irnwisdom of Estimating Ones Life
op Earth by Mere Worldly Gratifica-
tion- The Christian Way of Count
ing Time-A Contrast

BROOKLYN, Jan. 2.-Mr. Talmage cha g
for his text to-day part OF the elghIh
verse of the forty-seventh chapter oil Gene
ais. "How old art thous" The sermon
was as follows:
The Egyptian capital was the focus OF
tbe worlds wealth In ships and barges
there had been brought to it from India
franl,incense, and cinnamon, and ivory,
and diamonds; from the north, marble and
iron: from Syria, purple and silk; from
Greece. some Of the finest horses OF the
world, and some of the most brilliant char
lots, and from all the earth that Whlch
could best please the eye, and charm the
ear. and crafty the taste. There were
temples afame with red sandstone, entered
bv gateways that were guarded by pillars
bewildering with hieroglyphics, and wound
with braZcn serpents and adorned with
winged creatures-their eyes, and beaks,
and pinions glittering with precious stones.
There were marble columns blooming INTO
white flower beds; there were stone pill
lars, at the top bursting into the shape OF
the lotus when in full bloOh.
Along the avenues, lined with sphinx,
and fame, and obehsk, there We're princes
who came in gorgeously upholstered palan-
ouin, carried by servants in scarlet, or else
where drawn by vehicles, the snoW-Whlte
horses, golden bitted and six abreast, dash
inc at full run There were fountains from
stone vreathed vases climbing the ladders
of the light You would hear bolt shove
and door of brass would open like flash
of the sun. Tho surrounding gardens were
saturated with Odors that mounted the
terrace and dripped from the arbors, and
burned their incense ia the Egyptian noon.
On floors Of mosaic the 81 ries of Pha-
roah were spelled out in letters OF porphy-
nv. and beryl, and flame. There were or
naments twisted from the wood OF tama-
risk. embossed with silver, breaking into
foam. There were fOotstools made out OF a
single precious stone. There were beds
fashioned out of a crouched lion in bronze.
There were chairs spotted with the sleek
hides Of lcopards. There were sofas fOLted
with the claws of wild beasts and armed
with the beaks of birds. As you stand on
the level beach Of the sea on summer day
and lock either way there are miles OF
breakers, white with the ocean foam, dash
ing shoraWard; so it seemed as if the sea OF
the worlds pomp and wealth in the Egyp-
tian capital for miles and miles flung itself
up into white breakers Of marble temple,
mausoleum and obelisk.
It was to this capital and the palace Of
Pharoah that Jacob, the PLAIN shepherd,
came to meet his son Joseph, who had be-
come Prime Minister in the royal apart
ment. Pharaoh and Jacob meet, dignity
and rusticity, the gracefulncss Of the court
and the plain manners Of the field. The
King, wanting to MIKE the old country
man at ease, and seeing how white his
beard is and how feeble his step, looks IA
military into his face and says to the aged
man: "HoW old art thou"
Night before last the gate Of eternity
opened to let in, amid the great throng of
departed centuries, the soul of the dying
wear. Under the twelfth stroke Of the
brazcn hammer CT the city clock the
patriarch fell dead, and the stars of the
night were the funeral torches. 1t IS most
fortunate that on this road Of life there are
so many milestones, on which We can read
Just how fast we are going toward the
iournev's end / feel that it is not an in
appropriate question that | ask to-day
when | look INTO your faces and say, as
Pharoah did 10 Jacob, the patriarch: "HoW
old art thoum
People who are truthful on every other
4 subject lie about their ages so that l do
4 not solicit from you any literal response to
the question | have asked / would put no
one under temptation; but | simply want
+ this morning to see by what rod it IS we
4 are measuring cur earthly existence.
There is a right way and wrong way OF
measuring a door, or a wall, or an arch, or
d tower; and 50 there is right way and
wrong way Of measuring our earthly cX-
istcnCe 1t is with reference to this higher
meaniny that l confront you, this morning,
with the stupenlOus question of the text,
and ask: How old art thou!"
There are many who estimate their life
by mere worldly qualification, When Lord
Dundas was wished happy New Year,
be said; at will have to be happier year
Than the past, for hadn't one happy mo-
nent in ali the twelve months that have
gOnen But that has notbeon the experience
OF most Of us; we have found that, though
the world is blasted with sin, it is very
bright and beautiful place to reside in;
we have had joys innumerable. There is
no hostility between the Gospel and the
mcrriments and the festivities Of life.
do not think that we fully enough ap-
preciato the worldly pleasures God gives
US. When you recount your enjoyments,
you do not 90 far enough back. Why do
YOU not go back to the time when you were
an infant in your mothers arms, looking
up into the heaven of her smile-to those
days when you filed the house with the
uprCar Of boisterous merriment-when you
Shouted as you pitched the ball on the play
ground-when, on the cold, sharp winter
might, muftled up on skates you shot out
over the rcsOunding ice of the pohdl Have
you forgotten all those good days that the
Lord gave you! Were you never boya
Were you never girl! Between those
times and this, how many mercies, how
many kindnesses the Lord has bestowed
upon you.
iii there is any one who has a right to the
enloyments of the world it is the Christian,
for God has given him q lease to every
thing in the PROMISE: "All are yours"
But l have to tell you that a nan who esti-
mates his life on earth by mere worldly
qualification is a most unWise man. Our
life is not to be game of chess it is not a
dane in lighted hall, to quick music; it is
not the froth Of an ale pitcher; it is not the
settings of wine cup; it is not banquet
WITH intoXication and registering. 1t is the
first step oni Idder that mounts into the
skies, or fle first step on a road that
~ ges into horrible abyss. So that in
eis world we are only keying up the harp